1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to a tree and brush cutting attachment adapted to be carried by a mobile vehicle having an articulating boom. More particularly, the invention is a retrofitable attachment adapted to be mounted to a trackhoe or another suitable vehicle to trim right of ways and the like. Known art may be found in U.S. Classes 241 and 144, subclasses 101.7 and 3 as well as in other classes and subclasses.
2. Description of the Known Art
Mobile tree trimming machinery has been known in the art for some time. The earliest devices were essentially exposed rotary saws powered by and mounted upon a railway car. The mobility of these devices was severely restricted and they were often dangerous for workers because of the exposed blades. Several devices have since addressed some deficiencies of these devices to improve upon this early art.
For example, U.S. Pat. No. 3,343,575 to Trout shows a tree and brush rotary saw attachment for the free end of a boom of a backhoe. The saw assembly is mounted on a frame that is maneuverable for sawing at different elevations and angles for sawing brush and trees and for tree trunks and limbs. The saw blade is completely exposed on this device. This device makes no provision for clipping or shredding sawn debris.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,273,169 to Baenen shows a tree harvesting cable saw for severing a standing tree adjacent its base. The apparatus includes a main frame pivotally supported on the end of a boom that is in turn pivoted on a vehicle turn-table. The frame has a pair of tree gripping grapple arms at the upper end for gripping the tree to be cut and the cable saw at the bottom end. The cable saw is an endless cable which runs over pulleys mounted on a pair of movable arms which scissor together the completely sever the tree while it is gripped by the grapple arms. The saw blades in this device are substantially exposed during use. This device is also relatively immobile with respect to agile movement about a tree for cutting limbs only. This is not disadvantageous for the device's intended use of cutting entire trees but would be deleterious for cutting limbs on a tree.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,063,359 to Luscombe discloses a vehicle mounted boom device including a lower boom member pivotally mounted on the vehicle and an upper boom pivotally connected thereto. An elongated chain saw mechanism is mounted on the upper boom for carrying out tree pruning or cutting operations. The saw on this device is also completely exposed. This device is further not adapted to chip or shred sawn debris.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,574,989 to Rousseau discloses a grinder attachable to a tractor. The grinder is designed to rotate about a horizontal axis with cutting knives also provided about horizontal axis. The knives move in a plane perpendicular to their cutting edge and upon obstruction, they may move up to 360 degrees backwards, without any stopping means. This device has substantially exposed cutting knives that are not adapted to chip or shred sawn debris.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,683,924 to Cornelius discloses an apparatus for cutting and chipping trees and brush that includes a housing telescopically received at the end of a hollow rectangular boom or secured onto the existing boom of a vehicle and for cutting tree limbs or brush to be cut and chipped. The housing has a cutting member at the front portion extending outwardly for cutting trees or brush and feeds the cut material into a chipper. The rear of the housing forms a rectangular duct and a pair of alignment guides extend angularly outward from the front portion to receive the trunk of the tree being cut. A pair of cable guides extend between the top of the housing to the front of the alignment guides to divert power lines or cables and prevent them from being cut. The chipper reduces the cut material to chip size for passage through the duct. A blower moves chipped materials rearwardly through the duct portion. A nozzle on the underside of the housing discharges fluid onto the remaining cut materials to seal the cut portion. The cutting member preferably is a cylindrical member with radially-extending cutting blades secured thereon and rotate in the opposite direction of the chipping member. This device has blades that are exposed at one end and does not provide a single cutting and chipping blade. Moreover, this device is not retrofittable to conventional equipment such as trackhoes or the like.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,042,727 to Plante discloses a bushwood chopper with a frame adapted to be mounted on a crane-type vehicle at the end of a boom. The frame has a structure for supporting a rotatable shaft on which is mounted at least one disc supporting on its periphery, two pivoting cutting blades. The shaft has an abutting ring around its periphery at the level of the cutting blades for preventing the latter from freely rotating 360 degrees. The blades can pivot backwardly upon a sudden resistance to a limit allowing them to hide within the periphery of the disc and to return, as promptly as possible, in their radial operating position. The bushwood chopper, preferably, as a plurality of superposed discs and cutting blades. This device sprays chipped debris over a large area including the operators position during use, which obstructs the operator's view of the area undesirably.
The known art fails to provide a system that positively feeds a chipping chamber that may be easily retrofitted to existing mobile machinery. The prior art also fails to provide a cutter and chipper that permits an operator to trim trees from many angles and particularly laterally while depositing chipped debris directly beneath the chipper in a controlled manner. Many of the known art devices operate with substantially exposed cutting devices or scatter debris over a wide area including against the vehicle transporting the chipper, which is unsafe for the operators and others in the vicinity.
The known art also fails to provide a device with a cutter and feed assembly that are linked together. In particular, the known art fails to provide a device with a cutter and feed assembly that is bidirectional in rotation. That is, a device where the cutter and feed assembly may rotate forwardly to feed and cut materials or rotate rearwardly to unfed entering materials to clear jams or the like. This can be particularly convenient if the cutter were overloaded or if using a chain for the cutter that might break and prevent cutting of materials for example.